Steele: A pro-life, pro-gun moderate?

Michael Steele’s past association with a centrist group connected to former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) has undermined his standing among social conservatives and is threatening his bid to become chair of the Republican National Committee.

Though the pro-life and pro-gun Steele built a conservative record in his home state, the former Maryland lieutenant governor’s one-time affiliation with the Republican Leadership Council, which religious conservatives view as hostile to their agenda, remains a deal breaker in some sectors of the committee.

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“That is an organization that created itself for the purpose of eliminating a very important part of the Republican Party and its family values,” said Iowa Committeewoman Kim Lehman, who supports South Carolina Republican Party Chair Katon Dawson’s campaign. “Michael Steele crossed over a serious line.”

“In that field, the only one that would be my number six out of six choice would be Michael Steele,” said Iowa Committeeman Steve Scheffler, citing Steele’s “past deep involvement with the Republican Leadership Council.”

“They partnered with groups like Planned Parenthood,” said Scheffler, who joined Lehman in endorsing Dawson. “In my view, you don’t lend your name to a group if you don’t agree with them.”

Cathie Adams, the RNC committeewoman for Texas, said grassroots Republicans in her state have expressed enthusiasm for Steele’s bid, but she’s still uneasy.

“I have a very high regard for Michael Steele,” said Adams, a supporter of former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell’s bid. “The record with Christie Todd Whitman’s organization, the Republican Leadership Council, is not consistent with his rhetoric.”

Steele has repeatedly emphasized that he severed ties with Whitman’s group after learning of its socially moderate agenda, and his campaign categorically rejects attempts to label him as a moderate.

“I’m a Marylander who has watched Michael Steele throughout his entire career. To suggest he is something less than an unapologetic conservative is pure folly and the truth is, it is completely disingenuous,” said Steele adviser Curt Anderson. “ Steele is a pro-life, pro-gun, freedom- loving free market apologist. But he doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk – as he did in his successful race for LG, and in his race for the Senate.”

Faced with the skepticism that still exists in some quarters on the committee, Steele and his team have worked carefully to court the RNC’s movement conservatives.

Meeting with the RNC’s Conservative Steering Committee on January 6, Steele directly addressed his former ties to the Republican Leadership Council, saying he joined it out of friendship with Whitman and left as soon as he realized it would be unfriendly to social conservatives.

A day later, Steele treaded carefully as he accepted the endorsement of Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer, who’s viewed as a moderate by committee members.

After Greer declared that Republicans had spent too much time “talking about issues that are not being talked about at dinner tables” – a comment that could have been interpreted as a swipe at social conservatives – Steele distanced himself from the remark.